TFP 3: Human at Heart
by Karra Greenfield
Summary: TF:Prime Now fully 'adapted' at being an Autobot, Elita One has to adjust to the full ramifications of Vector Sigma's bio-binary bonding.
1. Chapter 1

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

With the lack of really anything to do, Elita-One was taking inventory of what was stock-piled at the base. Optimus had suggested, with Ratchet's insisting, that she stay at the base as much as possible while she adapted to her new transforming abilities. That was fine with her; she wasn't feeling all that great anyways.

The phantom pain in her torso could only make her smile. She was feeling things in her body aside from the dull ache in her brain core that had let her know she was alive, but up until Vector Sigma fixed her up, removing the virus from her system, the world had looked like she was viewing everything through some sort of movie or T.V. show. She could hear and see, but the other senses were non-existent.

Taking a moment to let the pressure pain to pass, she closed her eyes and rested her hand over the area. Maybe she should have Ratchet take a look. Surely this wasn't normal. Shaking her head, she dismissed the idea. She'd just has to get use to feeling again and this would eventually pass. And besides, Ratchet was busy today doing an upgrade on the ground bridge.

Walking back into the main part of the base, Elita spotted the medic curled into a part of the flooring, mumbling as he worked. She could only smile. He was always working, but then again they all did some sort of job while the kids were in school. And a good chunk of time the kids were there they helped out.

Jack worked most afternoons at his after school job, which Elita thought was giving the young man a great work ethic. Rafael was too young to be 'officially' working, but Special Agent Fowler had managed to give the young man some sort of allowance for all the help he's given the Autobots.

Miko spent more time in detention after school than Elita had really thought possible, mostly because she had trouble doing her homework. The girl was hyper, but the newest Autobot understood completely. She had been almost the exact same way when she was Miko's age. School bored Elita, or Ellan back then, to tears because it didn't keep up with her. Maybe she needed to come up with something to help engage Miko more.

While pondering over ideas, Elita was doing her best to set up the computer system to replace the one she broke. She could do some, but was limited by how large her hands were. Rafael was having to do most of the work and it just made her feel guilty over breaking it all over again.

Ratchet had paused, catching himself watching Elita as she worked. What was it with these females and their choosing such a wild alternate mode. Well, given their size was there an earth vehicle that would fit them better? With the paint job Miko had originally done, Elita now looked a bit like someone's mid-life crisis, at least he thinks that's the human phrase for the idea.

And in some sort of way, she had become his.

He had gotten to know the kids as well as the others, spent time with them while his companions were out in the field. He taught them as much of Cybertron and its history as he could, pleased when they would actually listen. And in turn they shared their knowledge of their world with him. And over time, they had grown close to his spark, especially when time after time they had helped the team. But now he truly understood the bond that Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee had with their humans. In the time that Elita had been with them, he slowly realized how dull it was when he was alone in the base.

When he realized that she was looking over at him, he quickly buried himself back into his work, smiling at hearing her giggling. She still had her human mind and he had to walk her through the things that all Cybertronian's knew inherently, but she approached it with gusto. And that probably endeared her to him the most.

He still snuck in a scan or two throughout the day, when she was the most occupied. The two life signals in her chasse still bothered him, but in the week since her return the signals had actually started to match up. One was now just a slight echo of the other. Just when he decided he was going to run another scan on her he heard the tell-tale sounds of the others coming into the base through the drive tunnel. School must be out. He'll have to run the scan later. Right now he had to finish up his work with the ground bridge to get it operational again. Optmus was due for return soon.

Ratchet looked up as he heard his friends transform, but they were facing him. Behind them he saw Elita pause, facing mostly away from the group, she had her hand up to her torso. So focused on her turning to greet everyone as if everything was normal that he didn't hear Bulkhead speaking to him.

"Hey, Ratchet," the former Wrecker said, bending down a bit towards the medic, "when is the ground bridge going to be back online?"

"Oh, um," the red and white bot bent back down into the area he was working in, "just a few more moments." He set the last few components back into place before pulling himself out of the flooring with Bulkhead's help. If Elita was noticing issues herself, he'll just have to make her have a scan.

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.


	2. Chapter 2

_[Location: Decepticon War Ship]_

Knockout was in the medical bay of the ship, looking over the schematics of the newest Autobot, Elita. Megatron had ordered them to figure out who she was, and in turn where she came from. So in the following week since the defense of the space bridge the Decepticon medic was still as confused as day one. Even Soundwave found nothing on the mysterious Autobot.

The red car-alt Decepticon liked her style. Both in paint 'n body as well as her marksmanship. After seeing her weapon of choice in action, he put two and two together about the large piece of target metal with the single, well placed dent in the center. Fixing the damage she had done to Megatron's helmet gave him an up close view of her handy work, too. She was probably the Autobot who had come the closest to finishing off Megatron, right behind Optimus of course.

The computer beeping drew his attention back to the issue at hand. Knockout was running a configuration program to figure out her vehicular mode based on her robotic structure. When no earth based vehicle came up, he did have a rather extensive image collection of cars for his personal enjoyment, he ran known Cybertronian alternative modes. That scan was now showing inconclusive.

Giving a thoughtful frown, he settled back in his stance. "Who exactly are you, Elita?"

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

The Autobots were recovering after a small skirmish with some Decepticon drones in a smaller energon mine, but had succeeded in securing it for their own. With the kids back at base, Agent Fowler on hand that night with them, all the Autobots had managed to mine what little energon was available which tripled their stockpile.

Bulkhead was setting the last few crates that they had piled up in Optimus' trailer in the storage area with while the rest organized it into straighter piles. Elita was taking inventory when she paused, her hands resting on a crate's edge as she waited out the pain. Arcee, who was next to her, stopped to check on her friend.

"E? Are you alright?" the smaller motorcycle asked.

Smiling it off, Elita straightened. "Just got stuck in a thought."

"Wanna go ride it out?"

The trike kept her smile the best she could. "Nah. Gotta try to get that new computer system in tonight.

"Well, if you change your mind let me know." The blue fem-bot smiled at her friend as they walked out of the room. "I'll try to talk Optimus and Ratchet into letting you patrol with me tonight."

Elita smiled, nodding. "Sounds good."

Elita did not feel up to going out, nor working on the computer system. There was a terrible pressure in her torso now. Her still very human mind told her it was alright to try to sleep it off, like when she'd go through her womanly cycle, but it was hard to get her body to actually go into its recharge state.

Rolling to her side, her legs curled up a bit, Elita opened her eyes at the odd feeling that ran over her arms that were crossed over the pressure. Looking down, she sat up as quickly as she could. Glowing blue liquid energon was leaking from between her torso plating, panic crossing her face as she looked at it as it covered her hands. Stumbling to her feet, Elita slowly made her way out of her room, using one hand on the hallway walls to support her as the other held her torso.

It was painfully slow, but she managed the distance to the opening of the hallway, leaving a glowing trail of energon on the floor and wall, having used one of her hands to support herself on the wall. Lifting her head up as she came to the opening, she spotted Ratchet at his console, speaking with Optimus about something.

"Ratchet…" she squeaked, making both bots turn and their eyes going wide. She stumbled a few more steps into the room before falling to her knees as they rushed to her side. Looking up at them, she winced in pain before her eyes dimmed, her arms dropped to her sides, and the lower part of her torso chasse split open, made up of three hinged parts with one moving up and two to the side, with a rush of the liquid energon spilling to the floor, a mass falling with it. Optimus and Ratchet shared a look before they focused down at the human female form that was lying in a pool of energon, with a large red Autobot symbol that covered her whole back.

"By the All Spark," Ratchet mumbled, his scanner running over both the robotic body and the human one that fell out. "The two life signals have completely synchronized." He looked up at the Autobot leader. "Optimus, they both have the same component make-up in their structures."

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.

Yes, I know it's another short chapter, but got to the point I intended. Don't fret. More to come! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

Optimus Prime watched his oldest friend crouch down near Elita's human body and gently nudge it with his fingers as he called to her. When she groaned and started to move relief flooded both of them. It seemed that she was going to be alright.

As she pushed herself up onto her elbows, her long metallic red hair caught the light as it pulled through the energon. Blinking her vision clear, she was confused as to what had happened. And why was she lying on the floor?

"Elita?" she heard Ratchet ask quietly she looked up at him. As he came into focus, she had to wonder why he looked so huge. Closing her eyes, she slowly climbed to her feet, only to lose her balance. Before either one could react, her bot body's hands snapped out and caught her in them.

Now completely confused she looked up at what held her, and then down at where she rested. A dark blush covered her as her hands did as well, her legs curling up as she gave a nervous laugh. All three were surprised when the robotic form transformed into its vehicular mode, and she landed on her rump on the floor, her arms and legs quickly covering herself again.

"What in the name of Primus is going on here?" the medic asked softly.

Optimus frowned thoughtfully, thinking back to the image that the Key had projected while she was under the care of Vector Sigma. While it did show both her human body and her Cybertronian one, he had assumed that it was showing him both aspects of what she was comprised of. But now…

"I hate to be a bother," Elita said from the floor, "but could one of you get me something to cover up with?"

Both recalled that all the other humans ran around with some sort of covering, but neither one could recall if they had left any of their belongings at the base.

"There's some spare blankets in storage room four, section G, second shelf from the top." When they looked back down at her, she shrugged with a helpless smile. "I've been doing inventory."

Optimus nodded and went to retrieve the item. In the meantime, Ratchet had scooped her up carefully with both hands and carried her over to his work table. She stayed curled up, but looked up at him as he ran yet another scan over her. Optimus soon returned and gently draped the blanket around her, gaining a smile from the smaller Autobot, before he turned to begin cleaning up the mess she had made.

Looking back up at Ratchet as he was mumbling to himself, she was feeling guilty about leaving the Autobot leader, her commander, to clean up the mess. Hearing a bot transforming to her side, both she and Ratchet looked over at Optimus, but he had not moved. He too was watching as her old shell in its robot mode as it grabbed a mop and began to wipe it over the spilt energon.

"How are you doing that?" the medic asked.

"I have no idea." And really she didn't. "I was just feeling guilty about him having to clean up the mess and … it reacted." She looked back up at Ratchet, who was looking over his results.

"Elita, you are still mentally linked to your larger body," the red and white bot dropped his arms.

"Oh," she looked down at her bare knees, "so that's what Vector Sigma had meant."

"What do you mean?" Optimus had moved closer, since the robotic Elita-One was taking care of the mess.

Looking back up at their commander, Elita sighed. "It had told me that it could not return my broken life to me, but would assist me in living with both of the worlds that my life is a part of now."

The two male Autobots shared a look before turning to see her robotic form stop cleaning and stand there. "How did you make it transform into vehicular mode?" Ratchet asked.

Elita smirked, hearing that curious tone he would get when they'd talk those many days they were alone at the base together. "I was wanting to hide. Isn't that what an alt-mode is for?" Standing up on the table, she wrapped the blanket around her like a toga. "So, tell me about it."

"Well, for starters, you and your robotic form are made up of all the same structural components." The medic stated mater-of-factly.

Looking down at her hands, she gently flexed her fingers as she looked them over, and her robotic form was doing the same which both of the other Autobots noticed. Her skin had a very faint metallic shine, as if it was a part of the skin, and her nails were silver. Running her fingers through her long hair, she pulled it out to take it in as well, smiling at seeing the red tone, with a slight metallic shine as well.

Curious she hopped off of the table, Ratchet and Optimus both moving towards her in a rush to keep her from hurting herself, and ran over to the glass doors of the repair chamber. She slowed as she caught the blue light from her eyes, that glowing Autobot blue. "Well, that's gonna be hard to hide out in public."

"I still advise you not leaving the base until all of this has been settled," Optimus reminded her as they both stopped carefully behind her. "We need to see if Vector Sigma is going to give us any more surprises."

"And there are so many more tests to run," Ratchet added. Elita sighed a bit, but smiled. Her hands were small enough to finish with that computer system now.

By the time the kids arrived with their escorts the following day, Elita was absolutely worn out. Ratchet had run every test he could think of, having her do all sorts of movements that her larger body followed, and even giving it mental commands. It seemed to also pick up on her absentminded thoughts and act out some of the frustration she was feeling.

Right now it rested on Ratchet's work table as he ran diagnostic scans. And while it rested, she slept on the couch, on her stomach with her arms draped over one arm and her feet off the others, the blanket still wrapped around her with a corner pulled over her head.

"Hiya Ratchet!" Miko hopped excitedly about as she ran across the walkway the kids kept to most of the time, guitar bag strapped across her back. "Where's Elita?"

"Sleeping," the medic replied, not looking up from his console.

The Japanese young lady had to lean around to peek behind the red and white bot, "She sick? Why is she on your table? Did you two party all night?" A woman's voice groaning her name made her stop and slowly turn towards the couch. Jack and Rafael were already standing near it, both stopped and staring at the pair of arms and legs sticking out of the blanket. "Who's that?"

She turned an accusing glare at Bulkhead, "Did you know about her? Who is she and why is she in our club house?"

The green former Wrecker only shrugged, everyone turning to Ratchet for the answers. Giving a frustrated sigh and a roll of his eyes, he motioned behind him at the bot on his table. "Vector Sigma had fused her DNA with her metallic structure when he turned her into a true Cybertronian. Apparently," he now motioned at the couch, "it also included in making a human shaped form as well."

"Saweet!"

Arcee was looking over at the couch, curious as to why Elita wasn't up yet. When the human shaped bot finally lifted her head, her face was as red as her hair. "Please tell me that the boys aren't here yet." A slow look to her side answered her question. Groaning she flopped her head back down, pulling herself under the covers more and wrapping them around her as snuggly as possible. "I'll be in my room now…" and the blanket disappeared down the hall silently, the robotic form on the table getting up to follow.

"Awkward." Miko mumbled. The youngest of the humans had used the girl's distraction to grab a controller before she did and was already getting the game started.

Jack gave a nervous scratch to the back of his head, thinking. With a smile he walked over to where the bots had gathered to be updated on their missions and what had happened the night before. "Ratchet?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"Do you think that Arcee and I can go run an errand before she heads out?" When the bots all focused on him he added, "It's for Elita."

Even if the medic didn't agree to it, Arcee did. She was moving away from the group before Ratchet even spoke. "That is very kind of you, Jack," and he looked over at the blue motorcycle, "Arcee."

The young man gave a smile, running over to his backpack to empty it out before putting it on and rushing over to Arcee, waiting in her vehicular mode. With helmet in place, the duo rushed out of the base.

Miko, since the other controller was free, flopped down on the couch and began to game Raf while Bulkhead and Bumblebee received their orders. It was just patrolling, so the teens would most likely go with them, but for now they were relaxing.

_[Location: Jasper, Nevada]_

Arcee was waiting outside the small store while Jack ran inside. They had already stopped by the house, where Jack called his mother to ask her about the clothing she had set aside to donate but had not had a chance to run by. With her approval, Jack grabbed the clothing and let Arcee pack it away. Now he was buying something else.

It was everything that the Cybertronian could do to not audibly groan at the sight of Sierra walk by and into the same store that Jack had ran into quickly. With how addle-brained he got around her, Arcee was worried that he'd forget why they were there.

Inside the store, Jack was actually staring blankly at all the bathing soaps that women actually had to choose from. No wonder his mother took so long shopping. This was insane!

"Hi Jack."

The black haired young man twisted around, feeling caught. "Sierra! Hi!"

The cheer captain meekly made her way over, her arms behind her back. "So… what are you doing?"

"Shopping!" and he looked back at the rows of choices ahead of him, "trying to at least."

"For your mom?"

"No… yes… Well…" he gave a self depreciating laugh as he scratched the back of his head, "It's for a shut-in friend of my mom's."

"And she didn't give you a list of stuff to get?" she eyed him with a mix of question and appreciation. He was being so considerate.

"Actually, it's a surprise."

"Ah, well…" he watched the young lady look over the choices and quickly pick out four bottles. "Most likely she won't want a bunch of strong smelling stuff, so best to go with like Vanilla or the like. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion," she listed as she placed them in the arm basket he was carrying. When she finished, she smiled up at him, which caught the young man. "It's really sweet that you're doing this."

Giving his nervous laugh, he could only smile. "She's a good friend. One of a kind, really. Thanks for your help."

"No prob. See you around?"

"You bet!" And he watched her walk further down the isle. He rushed to the front to pay for his purchases and back out to Arcee. "Sorry to have made you wait."

"I figured Sierra had something to do with that," she replied starting up after he put his purchase in his backpack and settled onto his ride.

"She actually helped me out. I'm terrible in buying things for women." Letting her rev up before pulling out of the parking space, he prepared for the ride. "One more stop and we'll be ready to head back."

"Good. I need to replace Optimus on his patrol. But it's really great that you're helping Elita out like this."

"What can I say?" The young man shrugged as they pulled up to the K.O. Burger. "She's one of us."

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.

Basing the basic control design off of "Aelyia: The Grand Dream" written by P.J.C. Cahill. (Read it! Great book!) Main inspiration is the Head Masters, but couldn't really see having Elita being the head of her bot. Gave me a migraine just thinking about it. 


	4. Chapter 4

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

Ratchet looked up as he heard Arcee and Jack returning. Bumblebee and Raf had already left per Optimus' request to replace him since their medic had filled the Autobot leader in on the errand that Jack had taken. Optimus smiled as they pulled up, the young man quickly getting off so Arcee could change.

"I'm sorry, Optimus. It's my fault," the young man admitted, looking up at the much larger bot before him.

Optimus dismissed the issue with a wave of his hand. "Ratchet had told me about your kindness for Elita and Bumblebee agreed to take over for Arcee for the same reason." The cranky medic bot was even smiling about it.

"I better get these clothes to Elita," Arcee said, dismissing herself. Jack hopped up to their usual area, digging out the bags of food from his backpack.

Elita's robotic body was resting on the large bed, while the human form, still wrapped up in the blanket, was looking at the inside of the cavity she had fallen from. So engrossed was she in her findings that when the knock came from her door she lost her balance and fell in. Pulling herself half out, she called for whoever was on the other side to enter her room, privately glad it was Arcee.

The blue motorcycle fem entered the room, allowing the door to shut behind her and began to pull out the two large trash bags of clothing from her storage compartments. "Jack and June thought you might be able to use these."

Elita deftly hopped from the cavity onto the floor, running over the bags as Arcee knelt down next to them as well. "He's such a gentleman. His Momma's raising him right, that's for sure."

"She does her best," her friend agreed.

Pulling out the clothing and looking it over, the human-shaped bot picked out a set to wear for the moment. "And you all help keep the kids out of trouble."

"Trouble still finds them, both human and Decepticon." Arcee was holding up the blanket so Elita could dress behind it.

"Vince being the main human trouble maker, after M.E.C.H. that is." The fem-bot holding the blanket heard her friend hopping around a bit. "Gah! June's so small!"

"That a bad thing?"

"Not for her. The pants fit. The shirt's a bit snug. I'm just glad I'm covered." Arcee let go of the blanket when Elita's hand grabbed the top of it to pull it away. She was still barefoot, but otherwise fully clothed in black pants, dark green shirt with a blue long sleeve over shirt that was left unbuttoned. "Thankfully June's a conservative dresser."

Arcee gave an approving nod. "I'm glad we never have to deal with that." Watching her friend carry the two bags over to the foot of the large bed, Arcee got back up to her feet and made her way over to the large bed as well, looking down at the opening in Elita-One's larger body. Her friend crawled on the body as well, looking down into it, too.

"I'm trying to figure out how it all works," Elita said, lying on the form, her arms crossed but holding her up.

Arcee blinked, crooking her head to the left and moved her body to look more down into the cavity. There was a huge, slightly recessed Autobot symbol on the back of a harness like system inside, but there was no visible control system. "That's where you were formed?"

"It's where I dropped out of at least."

"I've never seen an Autobot symbol inside one of us before," the standing bot said.

"I have one about that size on my back," Elita said sitting up, intertwining her legs, "Must have been where my back was pressed against while forming. Or maybe my umbilical while this form developed."

"Umbilical?" Arcee blinked a couple times, but before she got her answer Elita got a strange look on her face as an odd sound came from her midsection.

"That's something I haven't felt in… forever." Elita smiled up at her friend, "I'm actually hungry."

"Then let's get you some energon," Arcee said, offering her friend a hand down, "Ratchet said you had lost a lot last night."

"Yeah, all over the floor when I hatched." Elita was laughing a bit as they moved away the bed. Her robotic form sat up in the bed, got to its feet as the torso opening closed, and began to follow.

The other fem-bot looked back at it, raising an optic ridge. "That's starting to creep me out."

Elita turned around as they walked, looking up at it as well. "You're not the only one. I've just gotta make sure I don't step on myself, or anybody else with it." Then the most delicious smell came through the hallway. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath in and smiled. "Ooooooohhhh. I don't think its energon that I'm craving. Did one of the kids bring food?"

"Jack had picked some up on our way back." Arcee was smiling.

After they entered the main chamber, Elita's larger body moved off to stand beside Ratchet's work table. Arcee watched as Elita herself easily hopped twice, once off of the workstation Ratchet was working on, to get up to the walkway. Jack was finishing pulling the food out of the bags when she landed at his side. A medium stack of burgers, a two large fries, and two large sodas all resting neatly on the coffee table.

"Oh bless your mother for raising you a gentleman," she said smiling warmly at him.

Jack smiled, complementing her on her clothing before passing the bag of bath soaps to her. "I have no idea why, but I figured you needed food, too. And to wash up…"

"Probably the same thing that made Optimus feel that he needed to stay in base last night," she offered, her smile brightening even more as their human friend passed her one of the burgers. Flopping down on the couch, she quickly unwrapped the treat, took a deep whiff of it before chomping a huge bite, savoring it.

Behind her Ratchet and Arcee turned around as they heard some odd stomping behind them. Even Optimus raised an optic ridge at the sight. Elita's robotic form had its fists up near its chin as it practically hopped around in a circle.

"What is it doing?" the blue fem-bot asked.

"She has a mental link to it that picks up on her subconscious," the medic explained, chuckling a bit at the odd sight before turning back to his station, "I take it that this is her version of what Miko calls the 'happy dance'?"

"It does look 'happy'," Arcee mumbled a bit as she looked back at Jack joining Elita for the meal.

"I _am_ happy," said the large robot, while the smaller form still chewed a mouthful of burger, "Even before I ended up here I was only given three ration bars a day for at least six months." Everyone present focused on the larger bot form again. "Alright," it continued, "this is pretty cool."

"It appears," Ratchet said, turning to face the form standing behind him, "that you and your larger form, despite being separated at the moment, still have a complete bond."

"So I guess we have to stop referring to it as… well 'it'," Elita said through her larger form, "But we'll figure that out later."

She was halfway through the stack of burgers when the proximity alert went off. It wasn't too much later when Agent Fowler came through the elevator doors. Optimus was already standing near the entrance by the time the human came into the room. "Special Agent Fowler," the Prime nodded.

"Prime," the man nodded back calmly and then held up a folder. "I have some pictures of possible M.E.C.H. agents that I'd like Elita to look at to see if she can I.D. them."

"I can look, but I'd do better with audio," Elita said through her larger form while the smaller one was taking a large gulp of her drink. She chuckled at his reaction.

Fowler looked over at where the voice came from, stared for a good ten seconds with is mouth open as he looked between the bot standing behind Ratchet and Arcee and the human looking one eating, and then made his way over to the one sitting on the couch. "What happened?"

"One of those crazy mystical properties of the big VS," she smiled, offering him one of the burgers. He took it, a bit awkwardly because he had no idea what to do about this situation. She twisted a bit to point at her larger body behind Ratchet, now standing calmly by. "I still have that. But, about the photos…"

"I can try to get recordings of their voices. That would make more sense."

"With the masks 'n all."

Fowler nodded, but set the stack of files on what was left of the table, amidst the empty wrappers. "But I had got to thinking that he might have spoken with them while he was still active duty, and maybe around you as well."

She nodded, chewing on some fries. "That… actually makes sense. He did speak to a lot of other soldiers, a good amount of which had nothing directly to do with Damocles."

"Any help you can give us will benefit us all." Agent Fowler said, opening the wrapper of the burger.

Then her eyes brightened more, "Oh! What do I need to do to maybe get stuff to start a hydroponic garden here?"

The rapid change of topics kept the government agent off guard. "I… guess make a list of the supplies you'll need."

"Thankies!"

Arcee, who had moved over beside Optimus while they were speaking, took the opportunity to get Jack's attention. "You ready to go out on patrol, Jack?"

"Sure, Arcee!" and he was up on his feet a moment before, excusing himself from the adults.

"Have fun! And thanks again for the food Jack!"

"No prob, Elita."

Jack was on the ground level the next moment, Arcee transforming into her vehicle mode while he secured his helmet. Optimus opened the ground bridge for the pair and soon they were taking off through the vortex.

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.

Sorry, I know it's a bit slow at the moment. Thanks for sticking with me.


	5. Chapter 5

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

Blissful quiet. The kids were at school. The bots were out on patrol. Ratchet was out with Optimus since the Autobot leader had spotted another small energon deposit. This all left Elita-One alone in the base. It also let her focus one on one on, well… herself, as she sat on her overturned metal mug, her hair piled up in a messy bun on the top of her head.

She observed how her larger body transformed, mentally commanding it in and out of its vehicular mode. Her legs became the front wheel, the handlebars located on the outer side of her knees while in robot mode, the feet folding and locking the front wheel, which actually split in two and rested at her outer ankles in her robotic mode, in place. Her shoulder storage was the storage and cover for her rear wheels, her head tucking into and locking under the back bench. That left the driver seat and the console attached to it the torso and abdomen section of her bot form.

While it was standing still for her, Elita noted that the console section of the motorbike form split in two, giving a bit more definition to her hip-line. Opening up the chasse again, she looked inside the cavity from where she fell. It was large enough, obviously, for her to fit in. The question was how to go about it.

Once again, the larger form shifted into its vehicular mode. Elita gingerly climbed onto the driver's seat, her hands resting on the handlebars. She could feel what the larger form did, sense what direction it was 'looking' in. Since she was the only one at the base she had forgone the over shirt, but she could feel a tingle across the Autobot symbol on her back. Ratchet had told her that it was actually made up of nanofiber circuitry when he had first scanned it.

Looking down at the speedometer Elita took a deep breath before giving the impulse to transform. The seat she was on opened up and as the bot form lifted up she fell into the opening. Harness straps secured around her torso in an X shape and as she felt her back connect with the Autobot symbol on the inside; her view from her human shape faded and she saw directly through her larger form's eyes as it completed its transformation.

Looking down at her larger hands, Elita had to smile. "There we go."

When the request came through for Optimus and Ratchet to return, she was waiting by the ground bridge switch, whole. Both Autobots were careful as they stepped through, not seeing her human form nearby.

"There are no smaller beings around at the moment, gentlemen," she said as she shut down the ground bridge. "Is the energon useable?"

Ratchet nodded at her question. "It will take some work, but we did find a viable, all be it small, mine."

"Wonderful!"

"We see that you have managed to merge back with your larger form, Elita," Optimus spoke next.

She nodded up at her commanding officer, "Yes, sir. I just had to think it over and let it talk to me about it all."

"A wise idea," he agreed.

Looking over at Ratchet, she had to return the approving smile he had. "M.E.C.H. origin aside, you have done well in adapting all of this. I doubt very few humans would have accepted it as easily if it had happened to them."

Giving a shrug, her smile faded to a smirk. "I'll be the first to admit that this isn't exactly ideal for me, but there's really nothing that I could do or have done to change it. And honestly I think Vector Sigma understood that, knowing that part of me will forever be human in my mind and giving me another form that represents that."

Nodding in agreement, Prime looked over her as the communications computer began to demand attention. "Excuse me."

Ratchet and Elita parted to let him pass and the medic motioned for her to follow him. Naturally she rolled her eyes, but had a smirk as she did as requested. "Alright Elita, let me see."

"Geeze… buy me dinner at least first," she mumbled and then chuckled at the confused look that crossed his face, "Never mind." Lying back on his work table, she calmed herself to let her torso open up.

Ratchet looked in, gently touching the human form that was snugly secured in the metallic harness system, her legs bent somewhat at the knees to help her fit. Her eyes were closed, her head relaxed in a headrest designed to cradle it and avoid unnecessary jarring. "Are you able to attain your vehicular form?"

"Yes, very easily."

"Any control issues?" He was scanning the human form now, frowning thoughtfully over the information that he was receiving.

"Only when I think too hard about it," she said. "When I relax it's pretty much like before it happened; all instinct."

"Good, good." As the medic stepped away to look over his console, she sat up and let herself seal back into place. They both focused on Optimus as he stepped over to them.

"Ratchet, Arcee is caught in a traffic jam and is unable to pick up Jack from school."

"I'll do it," Elita offered as she hopped of the table.

Optimus looked down at her, "Are you sure you are feeling up to it?"

"Very much so," she nodded, "And besides, I need food."

Giving it a moment's thought, Optimus nodded to her. "Very well . Be careful."

She saluted him, "Will do, boss."

They watched as her torso opened up, her larger pair of eyes grow dim before her human body hopped out. As her feet touched the ground her larger body transformed into vehicular mode. She had an over shirt and a red helmet pulled out of one of her side compartments and on her before she waved at them and zoomed out of the base.

_[Location: Jasper, Nevada]_

The custom red and gray trike pulled up to the front of the high school and the driver relaxed her arms as she relaxed her arms as she waited. Her mother had always been against her getting a motorcycle. Funny how she never imagined being the bike as well. Control didn't get much easier than actually being the vehicle. She felt everything the bike did.

Hearing the school bell ring, she turned the visor of her helmet to the entrance. There were a few other students that came out the doors and headed to the other vehicles there of parents picking them up or their own rides. When Jack came out of the doors, Elita waved at him to get his attention. When he saw her he smiled and quickly made his way down the steps and over to her.

"Good to see you out and about, E."

"Good to get some fresh air. Your ride was stuck in traffic."

"With no way to get 'free' to bridge back," he said as he opened up the storage compartment over her right rear wheel. As he closed it they both turned their attention to a young lady calling Jack's name. Sierra was standing there, her arms holding her books. Jack turned to face her, returning the greeting.

"I see that your mom got her own bike," the cheerleader said, peeking around the young man.

Elita pulled off her helmet, resting it on her lap as she focused on the younger lady, a pair of holographic sunglasses covering her eyes. "I'm his Aunt. Just picking him up since I'm fixing up his ride."

"Y-yeah!" the black haired teen motioned to the woman sitting on the bike, "Sierra, this is my aunt Ellan," and then to the teenage girl, "Aunt Ellan, this is Sierra."

"Charmed," Elita said and then cleared her throat. "We need to get going so you're not late for work, Jack."

"Alright," and he turned back to the young lady. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Sure, Jack." She gave her shy wave before walking off.

Jack was smiling as he watched her leave, until he felt a helmet hit him in the gut, his hands automatically grabbing a hold of it. Looking down he saw that Elita's helmet was in his hands. "What was that for?"

"She's not worth your time," the older woman mumbled, starting her vehicular mode up as Jack took a spot on the bench.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Jack had crossed his arms as they took off, apparently not thrilled about Elita's short tone about Sierra. The girl had helped him after all to get stuff for the newest Autobot.

"I've been around her kind most of my life. Trust me, she's not worth your time."

At his scoff she smiled. "Y-you don't even know her."

"I'll give you that. I know what I've been told," she turned a corner, pulling into the K.O. Burger parking lot and into a parking spot. Jack slipped off of the bench seat and handed her back the red helmet. "You need to ask yourself one thing, Jack."

"And that's that?" He was a bit short with his tone as he pulled his backpack free and faced her again.

"If you had an earth shattering secret that you'll be carrying with you for the rest of your life," she paused to let that sink in a bit, "do you think that she would be trustworthy enough to keep it?" As he thought on the issue, Jack's frame relaxed. "Your regular ride should be back in time. If not, I'll be back."

The young man watched as she put her helmet back on and backed out of parking space before pulling off. He had to smirk as what she had said to him began to make sense. The Autobots were probably going to be a part of his life for probably the rest of it and if he was going to have a relationship with anybody he would have to really weigh if they were trustworthy enough to bring into his closest circle of friends. Slinging his backpack over one shoulder, Jake made his way into the building to begin his shift.

As she pulled out of the city limits, Elita relaxed as she began to enjoy the ride again. As the desert landscape flowed past, she let herself feel it all as her she thought about everything. She saw the base coming up in the distance when a red custom sports car came flying up behind her on the road. Giving a roll of her eyes she waved at the car to go ahead and pass her.

"_Elita!"_ Ratchet's voice came urgently through her ears, _"There's a Decepticon right behind you!"_

The medic was replied with a human tongued swear as she was shot at from behind. "I'm going to lead him away from the base. Get a ground bridge ready for me."

Knockout couldn't believe his luck. He had been looking for a race to crash, knowing a few of the locals that enjoyed the sport as much if not more than he, when his sensors picked up the tantalizing new little Autobot fem. He approved of the form she had taken for herself, it accented her paint job all the more.

"Knockout to Megatron. You'll never guess who I came across. If you'll be so kind to have Soundwave prepare to open a ground bridge I'll have our latest lady foe ready for pick-up." Speeding up, he aimed his side weapons and fired.

When Elita turned a sharp ninety at the junctioning road right outside of the base she smiled as the Decepticon followed her deeper into the desert. She knew he'd only shoot at her, having been told how vain the Decepticon medic was about his paint. That gave her an idea. Turning sharply again Elita began to drive over the sand, knowing that she'd be kicking up a bunch of it and maybe a few rocks as well. Blind him and chip his pride.

Knockout cursed the Autobot-fem as she took off into the sand. With no other choice he followed, dodging what rocks flew his way in the sandstorm. He couldn't see to aim so he kept firing blindly.

Elita felt three sharp blaster hits connect on her left tire well, blowing out her wheel. Firming, she managed not to flip despite starting to slide to the right and gave the mental impulse to transform. She fell back into her robotic form as it came up around her. The momentum gave her enough of a spin to make her face Knockout as he came out of the dust cloud. To her right hand side, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a ground bridge open up, Optimus rushing out of it, his weapons drawn.

Knockout gave a shout of surprise as he came face to face with a mad Autobot female that was ready to grab a hold of him. Behind her he saw a ground bridge appear and so he sped up. Energy shots were being fired from his left, coming from Optimus Prime as he ran out of another ground bridge. Giving a leap, Knockout transformed into his own robotic form and tackled Elita into the one behind her before it closed.

Optimus skidded to a halt in the sand as the second ground bridge winked out of existence. Not wasting any time he ran back into his own. He needed to plan their course of action.

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.

Sorry it took so long to get out. Kiddo got a cold and then so did I.


	6. Chapter 6

[Location: Nemesis]

The pair tumbled out of the ground bridge and in mid-roll Elita got her feet between her and Knockout, kicking him off. Both landed on their feet and facing each other in the dark hallways. Knockout's look darkened as he ran his fingers over the scratched paint on his torso. "Remind me to return the favor."

Elita was focused on the foe in front of her, but glanced to the side as she heard the whirl of weaponry powering up behind her. Even more drones were behind Knockout the next moment, their weapons aimed at her as well. Realizing that she was trapped, Elita calmly stood up straight and placed her hands behind her head. This was a fine pickle she got herself into.

"What a delightful catch, Knockout."

The voice sent chills down her spine as she recognized it belonging to Megatron. The Decepticon leader stepped around her from behind, pausing dramatically to look down at the smaller fem.

"You are quite the puzzle, my dear," he began, holding her chin with his hand, "there is no record of you in any of our databases. So tell me, where do you come from?"

Elita just kept her mouth shut. The military had trained her to give her name, rank, and serial number in case of capture, but this wasn't the same. She couldn't let them know her origins. As she stared down the large Con, he eventually backed away first, but didn't break eye contact.

"You have spirit, but we have ways of making you break." Megatron rested his hands behind his back, still looking at the Autobot, "Take her to be questioned."

Elita kept eye contact with Megatron for a long as she could, and when he was out of sight she focused her icy stare at Knockout as they passed the Decepticon medic. One of the drones came up to its leader as she was being escorted away.

"Lord Megatron, we are coming up on the pick-up coordinates for the latest energon mine."

"Excellent," and the rest was garbled as she was turned down the hallway.

_[Location: Autobot base] Current timeline: Armada_

Bulkhead had checked into base prior to Elita's capture and since then they were not able to contact him the others began to worry that the Decepticons had planned to take them out one by one. Arcee had picked Jack up from work since she was able to get free of the traffic jam. Bumblebee had picked up Rafael and Miko from school, since Bulkhead was unable to. Everyone was on edge for the possible next strike.

Bumblebee, Arcee, and Optimus searched the area that the big green Autobot last reported from, only finding an empty energon mine via the giant hole left in the ground. Ratchet was constantly working the scanners with Rafael's help, searching for any trace of Decepticons, their warship, or Bulkhead. Until they found any one of them, they could not help their friends.

It wasn't until the next day that the scanners had picked up anything. But it was not what the Autobots were hoping for. No, it was coming from the last location where the Autobots engaged Megatron, Decepticons, and Airachnid with her Insecticon.

_[Location: Northern tip of Idaho]_

While Optimus and Bumblebee scrapped with the Insecticons attacking them, Arcee had set off to deal with Airachnid on her own when she noticed the helicopter spider Con had run off from the fight. It was now or never to settle the score.

It wasn't until after the duo had taken out the small army of Insecticons that they had realized that their friend was not with them. Optimus looked back at the mouth of the cave that the Insecticons had flown out of and without a word he and Bumblebee made their way into the opening.

There was only one place Airachnid would have fled to and that would be where the Insecticons had come from. And as sure as the Decepticon rogue was there, so too would Arcee. They ran into the large cavern just in time to watch Arcee lock Airachnid in the stasis chamber, both male bots making their way to their companion's side as she locked her arm blades back into place.

Bumblebee beeped and clicked as he rested a hand on Arcee's shoulder, making the blue motorcycle smile. "Thanks, Bee."

Optimus touched his ear, "Ratchet, we need a ground bridge."

_[Location: Nemesis]_

Elita was regretting on not eating before she left Jack at his job; also not getting a boost of energon before she left the base. Right now she only knew that she was hanging by her wrists, which kept her from accessing her weapons, and in a lot of pain. Between the shock 'treatments' that Knockout had given her and the faceless Decepticon Soundwave's attempts to probe around in her head she was beyond exhausted.

The only way she had kept Soundwave from accessing anything was to keep his search busy by playing anything and everything she had in her music storage device. Now in her worn state she found herself singing some Broadway show song by some peppy woman singing about being Popular or something of that sort. Or was it some angry woman's rant about not performing yet? Maybe she was mixing the two, what an interesting thought.

Right now it was Knockout that was standing before her, Soundwave in the shadows behind him. "You can't take much more of this, you know? The body can't handle it."

"Go stand in front of a train…" she mumbled, her head heavily falling forward. She was rewarded with another stab in the torso with that shocking staff he carried with him.

"Where did you come from, Autobot?" he asked again.

"If you want to get to know me try buying me dinner or a drink at least," she mumbled.

"What was that?" Knockout asked darkly.

Elita lifted her head, her eyes dimming a bit, "What…ever happened… to my part?" Her head rolled back on her shoulders, "It was exciting at the start! Now we're halfway through season two and I had nothing yet… to do!" She was stopped by another jolt to the torso, unable to cry out in pain anymore. She was saved from another jab when Knockout paused at the sound of a buzzing that was filling the ship.

"What is that?" the red Con asked, lowering his energon prodded staff. Soundwave's display began showing the radar reading of incoming attackers as the ship began to rock. "We'll continue this later, Elita," the Decepticon medic promised as he followed Soundwave out the door, it shutting behind them.

Once they were gone, Elita counted to one hundred before she released her human form from her larger shell, it falling weakly to the floor below. The helmet was still on her head and with how roughly she was jostled about she was glad of it. It took a moment for her to gather her feet again, but she looked up at her larger body to see how trapped she was. She thought about climbing up, but how would she cut the chains off?

Firming, she marched over to her body and began the climb, pulling one of the handlebars free from the knee joint where it rested. Elita looked in disbelief at what had happened. The handlebars were spare energy guns, human sized. "Thanks Vector Sigma," she mumbled as she slipped it the back of her shirt through the neckline and continued to climb.

The job was difficult enough with how tired and in pain she felt, but was made worse as the ship shook from the attack. Managing to get to her right shoulder, Elita aimed for the chain above her robotic wrist and fired several shots until the chain broke.

Her robotic form swung from the remaining chain, making her lose what little footing she already had as she swung wildly. As the battle outside the ship shook it, she aimed her weapon at the remaining chain and let loose a volley of shots. When the chain gave way, Elita crashed to the floor harshly, the smaller form managing to not get squished by the larger one. Again she was glad for the helmet as her head connected with the floor.

Together both forms pulled themselves off of the floor as things calmed outside. After locking the handle bar gun back in place Elita leapt up to the opening, grabbing a hold of the side to use it and the momentum to spin her around before she felt it close around her and the larger form become the primary feel around her. Fighting through the pain she moved out the door, her blades on her left hand at the ready, but not spinning yet.

Elsewhere on the ship… Bulkhead was rather pleased with himself that he managed to really avoid Decepticon detection, the encounter with Starscream aside, that he had gotten better at being stealthy. Shoot, even Megatron didn't see him! But he had to get off the ship and fast. He might have been lucky so far, but it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out.

He opened a hatched that let him drop into another room. _Apparently I still have my luck,_ he thought as he looked over the edge of the platform at the Nemesis' power core. Breaking things had always been his strongest asset, and looking over the equipment below, it didn't take him long to determine the best place to strike.

Shifting his right hand to his wrecking ball, he prepared to jump. "One way or another, I'm getting off this boat!" Off the side of the platform Bulkhead flew, right into the weak spot. With a grunt, the former Wrecker struck with everything he had.

Elita grunted as she hit the hallway wall while the ship shook with massive explosions. Something happened and it wasn't good. Hearing more drones making their way towards her direction, she hid herself into a dark nook and waited for them to pass. The ship started to tilt in the direction she had assumed was nose first and so she let the angle do most of the work for her. Changing her left weapon back into its hand form, she then shifted the wheels at her ankles down and let herself roll with the downward incline.

When she ship began to level off she continued to skate towards the end of the hallway. Fortunately for her the Decepticons seemed to be busy taking care of whatever had happened and she was relatively alone, except for apparently one: Starscream. He passed her at an intersecting hallway as he held his side, looking at her before panicking and running off.

Having a feeling he was fleeing the ship she rushed to follow him. He knew where the exits were. She had lost sight of him as he turned a corner and the ship tilted again, but she could feel the wind rushing past her. She was close. As the ship hit the ground she was thrown forward, landing against a doorframe, the world going dark on her.

Bulkhead held onto one of the supports as the ship shook from the crash and waited for it to stop before high tailing it out of there. He had to get back to base to let them know what had happened!

Elita gained enough of her head to look up and see Bulkhead, reaching out to him, but he didn't see her and she watched him leap out of the ship, the squeal of his tires echoing. Willing herself to at least get on her hands and knees, Elita managed to crawl to the opening and slide down the wing fin to the ground. When she heard drones take to the sky she moved as quickly as she could under the fin to hide from their view, and she prayed, from their scanners as well.

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

Later that night Bulkhead gave a Miko-inspired cheer as home came into view, and pushed himself harder, laying on the horn in the tunnel to make sure that nobody was blocking the way and to convey his excitement. As soon as the main room opened up he transformed, "Guys! You are not going to believe the day I've had!" Then he caught the stasis chamber containing Airachnid, and then the somewhat shocked looks on Ratchet and Arcee's face at seeing him unharmed for being off grid for so long. "You too, hrm?"

"Bulkhead," Optimus was turning to his subordinate, "we are all curious as to where you have been."

"I was tracking a strong energon signal," the large green bot was as hyper as his human counter-part, "and then the Decepicon ship came up while I was checking it out and picked me up with the load. I had fallen and hit my head so I wasn't aware of what had happened until I woke up on their ship."

"You were on the 'Con ship?" Arcee asked urgently, leaving her trophy behind.

"Yeah!" he replied, "and brought it down hard!"

"Did you happen to find Elita?" Ratchet asked, his body language stressfully rigid.

Bulkhead was confused, looking between the three Autobots there. "Why would I have found Elita on the Decepticon's ship?"

"Because Knockout kidnapped her shortly after we lost contact with you," Optimus said gravely. Bulkhead looked as if he was punched in the gut at the news. Elita was on the ship and he didn't know. The Autobot leader placed his hand on his subordinate's shoulder. "Do not feel guilty, Bulkhead."

Bumblebee pulled into the room behind Bulkhead and Optimus, letting all three kids exit before transforming himself. He beeped excitedly at his green friend about his return while Miko hugged her bot's foot. They looked up as the proximity alert went off, letting them know that Agent Fowler was on his way down.

"Now we must plan our next move," Optimus said as things calmed.

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW. So, too, the songs mentioned in the story.

Now to begin tying it all into the series. I'll only be highlighting parts of the episodes as they need to fit into the story.


	7. Chapter 7

_[Location: Nemesis crash site] Time frame: Flying Mind_

Elita looked up at the massive ship looming above her, listening carefully for the drone flyers. Hearing none about, she winced as she lifted her hand up to her ear to open her communicator.

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

Everyone paused in their conversation as the communication station beeped urgently. Ratchet, being the bot closest to it, opened up the call. _"Elita-One to base. Ratchet are you there?" _Relief flooded all in the room.

"Yes, Elita," Ratchet quickly responded, "I'm here. Are you damaged?"

"_Bit bruised, but alive,"_ she gave a tired sigh, _"I got out of the ship. Tell Bulkhead I'm sorry I couldn't keep up with him."_

"Where are you at, Elita?" Optimus asked as he stepped up behind the medic.

"_Under one of the ship's fins. They've already had drones searching the area and I guess I'm hidden from their scanners at least."_

"We'll open a ground bridge to your location," the medic offered quickly.

"_No,"_ came the reply, the word sharp with pain, _"Don't waste the surprise on my exit if you're planning something."_

"She's right," Arcee said, "We should hit the 'Cons right now while they're vulnerable."

"Megatron's warship may be grounded, but let's not forget that we remain vastly outnumbered," Ratchet warned, "Especially since he's added the Insecticon Hive to his ranks."

Elita remained quiet as she listened to their discussion. When Optimus spoke up next, he gave her her orders. "Get as close to the ground bridge coordinates as you can, Elita," and the Prime turned away from the console to go deeper into the base.

_[Location: Nemesis crash site]_

"Understood, Elita out." Closing her communicator, Elita groaned as she slowly climbed to her feet. It took a moment for her internal navigation to direct her where to go and she slowly walked over to the edge of the cliff. Leaning over as far as she dared, she had to chuckle. "Of course. Well! Here goes." And she slowly began the climb down the rock face.

She was halfway down the cliff when the ship above her began to rumble. Looking up she saw the injured behemoth rise, shaking a few rocks lose. Seeing the danger heading her way, she let go of the rock she was currently holding and let herself drop down to the next protruding rock, swinging to the side from the momentum before letting go of that one to freefall to the next one to avoid being hit. The next freefall began when she pushed off with her feet into a leap outward from the cliff face, finally hitting the ground and rolling like a ragdoll.

As soon as she stopped, she looked up to see the ground bridge opening up and her friends begin to drive out. With another groan, she got up and began to rush towards them as they ran towards the ship. As the Decepticon ship loomed overhead like a shadow of death, Elita paused only for a moment as she saw Bumblebee take a hit, the scout crashing to the ground.

Arcee picked up the device, taking over the mission before she too took a hit from the odd energy blast from the ship. Bulkhead was next, not even getting the chance to aim the deadly device at the ship before he too was hit by the beam.

Elita was nearing her friends by this point, pushing herself past the pain, as Optimus Prime grabbed the device, gave a mighty leap, and prepared to throw the device only to be hit by the ray as well. Elita was at his side after he crashed to the ground. Grabbing the Spark Extractor, she prepared to throw it when she saw the beam heading her way. Rolling to dodge, she looked up at the ship as the ray locked on her, transformed her right hand into her sniper rifle, aimed and fired as the beam came down on her.

_[Location: Nemesis bridge]_

Megatron did not look pleased at the view before him. "You fools let her escape!" and then he saw the device she was holding, "and she has the Spark Extractor. Guide us closer so I can collect what belongs to me, and destroy the Autobots."

It was then that Megatron realized that he screwed up.

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

It took time and several trips to bring back his comrades, but Ratchet managed to bring everyone home. It took a bit of work, but he managed to pull the Spark Extractor free from Elita's hand, her weapon still up and aimed at its non-existent target.

It was when he was passing by her again that the medic noticed that her eyes were dimmed. Kneeling down he saw that the three pieces that housed her human shaped component was opened slightly. It took a bit of work, but he managed further open it, catching the limp human form as it fell free.

"What happened to her?" Jack asked as they watched Ratchet bring her over to the couch and gently set her on it.

"Despite her origins, she is now a fully Cybertronian being," the older Autobot said, returning to his console. "She might have tried to eject herself before the beam struck, but she was still in contact with it when it hit. They're alive, but I've never encounter this form of stasis lock."

While their human allies were on their mission on the Nemesis Ratchet kept an eye both on his console that tracked their progress, and on scans of his friends. There had to be something he could do. When they began to relax, their stasis lock fading, the Autobot medic knew that the kids succeeded in dumping the dark energon from the Decepticon warship's power core.

Bumblebee was quick to catch Elita's larger form as it relaxed, but crashing towards the floor, burn marks and deep gouges in her armor plating telling her story. Bulkhead looked the most remorseful over what had happened, but had to laugh when the larger form said, "It looks worse than it feels, but I'll let ya'll have the fun for a while." They were quick to rest it on Ratchet's table for repairs.

Optimus was at the ground bridge opening with Ratchet, taking Agent Fowler from Miko and Rafael as they walked through. "Where is Jack?"

"He told us to go," Miko rushed through the words, "Jack went back for the drive."

"I've got this Optimus," Ratchet said as he rushed past them into the ground bridge.

Carefully placing Agent Fowler on the medical bed, Optimus waited by the controls for Ratchet's return shortly thereafter, with both Jack and the drive in hand. The Autobot medic set Jack down next to his friends before plugging the drive in to access the information.

Elita had pulled herself up from the couch, put her helmet on the coffee table, and made her way over to Agent Fowler to check his vitals. The man was mumbling happy things from his childhood, the mention of "Grandma" making her smile.

"Elita," She looked up at Optimus while he spoke with her, "You will stay here and monitor Agent Fowler's progress."

"No prob," she smirked. He gave her a grave nod and began to make plans with the others about the collection of the relics.

Elita was sitting on the edge of the platform, leaning against the lower bar of the railing with her chin resting on crossed arms, as she listened and watched the teams split. Jack, Miko, Arcee, and Bumblebee were the first to leave. Next was Bulkhead, rushing off on his mission, looking forward to sharing with Miko when they all got back.

Optimus and Ratchet were speaking before the Prime headed off to search for his relic. The medic stood still as they watched the Autobot leader walk through the ground bridge. While Rafael pulled up the coordinates for Ratchet to bridge through, Elita reached out for the remaining bot.

"I know this isn't ideal," her hand brushed against some of his arm plating, "but maybe you can rub off on him."

"I doubt it," the medic said with a huff to his voice. They both looked over as the ground bridge reactivated.

"Be careful, Doc," she requested gently.

Ratchet looked back down at her, carefully rubbing the back of her hand with one of his fingers, "I will," and he turned to enter the ground bridge.

Once it winked shut, Elita managed to pull herself back up to her feet and smiled at Rafael. "Looks like the three of us have the fort."

The young man smiled, pushing his glasses up a bit. They talked about the newest computer system that they finished putting in until Agent Fowler woke up. While the men were busy manning their own stations and keeping track of the team, she was doing what repairs she could to her larger form. She knew from where she was aching what areas needed the most attention first.

When she heard Rafael becoming excited about something, she slowly hopped her way over. "Do you have to mention food?" she inquired as she crouched down beside him, looking over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Elita," the computer genius said a bit distractedly as his fingers flew over the keys of his laptop.

"Nice coding," she complimented before moving down the ramp. She stopped to look up at the readout of those in the field, mentally kicking herself for having been caught. She should be out there helping, not stuck at the base. Her stomach growling brought her thoughts to the present. Even based troops had their job to do. Rafael was doing his, Special Agent Fowler his own. She will do her own part.

Gingerly making her way down the stairs she moved to the energon storage chamber and began to load up one of the human sized carts with the prepared liquid energon to move it over to the medical area of the main room. Knowing that the Decepticons were going to give her friends a full fight, she would be prepared to help treat them as they came in.

She was two full loads of prepared energon ready when she heard Raf cheering. Something good must have happened, so she went to check. Looking up at the massive screens above them Elita had to smile as she patted the young man's shoulder. "Excellent coding. I could learn a thing or two from ya."

"I doubt that, Elita," he said, looking up at her, "but thanks for saying so." Then from his laptop they both heard Ratchet call for a ground bridge. "Excuse me," he said as he turned his focus to that.

Elita watched the information scrolling on their screen. It was in and of itself amazing coding. She was going to have fun with it if Optimus let her near it. Hearing Rafael greeting Ratchet excitedly, she couldn't help herself but to smile. With all that weighed the medic down, it was uplifting to see his spirits so high. This was indeed a blessing for the Autobots to have the Iacon Database in their possession, giving them fighting chance in beating the Decepticons to the relics.

When Raf opened the ground bridge for Bulkhead to come back through, everybody stared in shock as the huge bot came flying through the portal, landing face first at Ratchet's feet. Shock filled them all as they took in the damage. The young computer genius ran closer, standing next to Agent Fowler.

Elita could see some of it from where she was. Both of her forms reacted before her mind did, the larger one getting up from the table to bring over a box of prepared liquid energon as the smaller one leapt down from the walkway, both running over to their injured friend while she ignored own pain.

Ratchet was already kneeling at his side, but with Elita being smaller she was able to weasel her way in to take in the damage. While they worked together on their friend her larger form was injecting the energon into Bulkhead's arm. Not knowing how the others would be coming through the ground bridge, they focused on the most pressing matter at hand. Keeping Bulkhead alive.

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.

Gah! Now I realize how hard it is to keep fanfics near canon while the show is still in progress! I figured I didn't need to add much from the actual episodes since ya'll have most likely seen them ^_- . We're all going to have to wait until at least Saturday before I can post one more.

I might have a bit more fun going off story line a bit later on, but we'll see what I can come up with.

The cold is gone from our home, thank goodness, and thanks for all the concerns. And thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Intro Note: Ladies and Gentlemen, this is where we leap from the canon train. I'll be honest to say that I screamed when I saw that they had just left it at a cliff-hanger and restarted Season 2, and I realize that it is possibly some way payback for all the cliff-hangers I do. But much like at the end of Season 1 when I had come up with Elita-One in my head, my mind had been working on what could happen. I realized that they were possibly going to do with Silas that I had already planned because I waited too long. This time I promised myself that I'd get it "written out" before it might actually show up in the show.

_[Location: Autobot Base] Timeframe: After Toxicity_

Elita ignored the pain from the cuts and burns as she reached into the blast wound in Bulkhead's back. The victory that Ratchet and Rafael had achieved forgotten as she and the medic worked together to save their friend's life. The sickly green energon that was pouring from the wound and covering Elita's humanistic hands worried her.

"He had found Tox-En," Special Agent Fowler told them as he and Rafael watched from the platform they observed from, "To keep it from the Insecticons he threw it into the volcano to be destroyed. _That's_ what we were working on when you came in."

The Autobot medic stopped moving as he read the results of his scans, the information on the screen coming up at the same time Fowler spoke. "Tox-En? By the All Spark..." Ratchet trailed off painfully as he stared down at the wound. Then snapped himself out of when he saw that Elita's arms were covered in up to her elbows in the sickly green, along with some runs of red from cuts from her digging around. "Elita! Stop!"

"He's still alive, Ratchet," was her urgent, almost desperate reply, "We can save him!"

"Elita," the medic tried to nudge her away from the wound, "you're poisoning yourself." When she waved one arm at him to move him out of her way to dig back in Ratchet had to move his hands out of the way.

"I can't let him die," Elita almost yelled, stopping to take a breath. She looked up at Ratchet and he had frowned as he saw the light blue glow of the tears that ran down her cheeks. "I should have gone with him. It's my fault that I got captured and he had to go alone."

"It is no-one's fault," the medic told her sternly, watching the larger form pump another shot of prepared energon into the Wrecker's arm, "but Tox-En poisons the energon and in turn the bio-mechanical systems."

She paused, closing her eyes and making her larger form stop. She was pressing her hand against one of the major leaks, the sickly green fluid seeping between her fingers. In human terms, his blood was full of things that were slowly killing him. A transfusion would be ideal, but while the bad blood was in his body it would destroy any good blood they put in. Dialysis was used to wash out the impurities in the blood, like the kidneys naturally did. The pulse of fluid coming from around her fingers was growing weaker, so they needed to do something to boost up Bulkhead's systems to help get the Tox-En out.

Her larger form was running to the storage area as Elita looked back up at Ratchet, "Get all the Synth-En you have."

He frowned at the thought, "It is still far from safe for use."

"Ratchet," she looked up as her larger form began to set down the large armload it brought back with it, and began to set up hoses to a large hand pump with the end of that tube feeding into a sizeable tub, "his pump is getting weaker. I've read all of the files on it and it'll give his system a sizeable boost that will help. It's more like a shot of testosterone or adrenaline to the human body, and we wouldn't be using the good energon up first."

Realizing that Elita's logic had some merit, the medic was grumbling about being replaced by some 'pretender' as he moved over to where he was safely storing the Synth-En. Where did these humans get the idea that they knew more about Cybertronian physiology than he did?

Rafael had to move away from Fowler's side at the railing overlooking the bots when they began to receive calls from the others. The only one in real danger from their environmental settings was Optimus.

Agent Fowler watched as both of Elita's forms worked to attach the hose inside of the wound on Bulkhead's back and the larger form begin to work the pump. Ratchet had returned by this time, stacks of Synth-En at his side as he began to set the containers up like an IV drip, attached to another hose Elita had attached again into the wounded area. She had the Tox-En filled energon going out of one connecting hose and the Synth-En being funneled into where it was originally attached to.

"Ratchet," Rafael said as he stood beside Agent Fowler again, "the others are requesting to come through. What do I tell them?"

The medic looked up at the young man, looking as worn as he felt. "They risk becoming infected with the Tox-En if they return now.

"Like you and Elita are now," Agent Fowler said calmly. Then suddenly his fist hit the railing, sending Raf skittering away slightly. "He should have blown it all up at the start, instead of carrying it all over creation."

"Bulkhead made his choice, Agent Fowler, and for the best outcome despite the price," Ratchet was switching out an empty container with a full one of Synth-En, "if Megatron got a hold of the Tox-En…"

"Then he would have been able to win the war," Fowler finished, "in _his_ favor."

"Precisely," Ratchet replied.

The Autobot medic was surprised to find the Synth-En draining quicker as the moments passed. And the sludge that was being pumped out was thinning out with streams of glowing green, the Tox-En slowly fading out in the mix.

Ratchet's scans were showing the an improvement in his comrade's vitals as Elita was having to do less and less pumping while Bulkhead's own internal energon pump took over. Her smaller form was still on his back, one hand on each hose connection to make sure that they stayed, but she swayed as her direct exposure to the toxic energon was taking its toll.

When it was just pure Syth-En pouring out of the exit hose into the tub Ratchet began to replace the empty containers with the pure energon. It was nearly two hours from start to finish before pure energon began to pour out of the exit hose into the tub. That was when Elita stopped pumping, the smaller one doing a quick bypass with a spare hose before she weakly slid off of Bulkhead's back and onto the floor. Once she was safely away, Ratchet and her larger form picked up the Wrecker and managed to get him over to Ratchet's work area and into the repair bay.

"Get yourself into the decontamination bath, now," Ratchet told Elita through her larger form, focused on the Wrecker's repairs while Elita took herself to the other chamber. It will take time to repair Bulkhead completely, but thanks to her quick thinking, they now had that time.

While the repair chamber did its job, Ratchet focused on the next issue at hand, the large vat of contaminated energon. Its contents were a swirling mess of colors, but as the medic ran the scan over the contents, he was rather surprised to find that the threat the Tox-En had been was being neutralized by the Synth-En. The vapors weren't as much of a threat now, but touching the mixture was not advised.

"Rafael," the red and white Autobot turned to the humans, seeing their own frames relaxing with relief, "you may now bring our friends home."

Raf ran over to his laptop and began to open the ground bridge portal to retrieve their comrades. Optimus was the first to come though, looking over the condition of their base, especially the vat, before standing over beside Ratchet while they waited for Bumblebee, Arcee, Jack, and Miko to return.

_[Location: Nemeses, Medical Bay]_

Knockout was fuming privately as he focused on preparing the new visor to replace Soundwave's cracked one. The Decepticon medic was highly peeved at Megatron for treating him as if he was a complete fool. Though knowing full well that if his leader wanted to slag him, Megatron could have easily done so on the spot. No, his 'glorious' leader decided to humiliate him further with the grenade. It was bad enough that his paint job was ruined thanks to Bumblebee and the artifact the Autobot scout had stolen from him, but he couldn't do a thing about it until all the work Megatron had piled up on him was completed.

With a growl of anger, the red custom shoved himself away from his work table and marched over to where all the information he had on Elita-One was scrolling on the screen. The worst part was, even though he had her captured he still didn't have any more information than before he saw her on the road.

Pressing a few buttons, he brought up the video he had recorded of her vehicular form. Yes, she did look very nice. As he watched he noticed that the rider actually moved more than a standard hologram did. Had Elita had already picked up a human? It was then the realization hit him.

There wasn't a human standing in the sand when Knockout tackled her into the ground bridge portal into that lead to the Decepticon warship, his recording confirming that. She must have hidden her human on or in her and it must have helped her escape. Unfortunately video records on the Nemeses was scrambled from both the power surge during the crash and the Dark Energon infusion that Megatron insisted on which gave the ship a mind of its own.

It didn't matter now. Megatron blamed him for her escape and for so much more.

While pausing the video on a still of Elita standing her ground with the ground bridge blazing behind her, Knockout had to admit that the Autobot fem might be worth the time to persuade her into joining with the Decepticons. If only for her great tastes alone. Besides, he needed a new assistant since Breakdown's disappearance.

_[Location: Autobot base]_

Elita let herself come to, though her groggy mind fought against it. She was resting on Ratchet's work table, the Autobot medic placing her there after she had finished with the decontamination bath and gave her a small dose of Synth-En to help her fight against what Tox-En her smaller form absorbed. To keep her smaller body from becoming overloaded with the synthetic energon she merged with her larger form and let it work through both parts. But it seemed as soon as her head rested against the table she was out to the world.

Turning her head to the side she saw Bulkhead still in the repair chamber, the machines working as safely as they could as they continued their repairs. Apparently somebody had moved the couch down to rest near the side of the chamber, with a sleeping Miko on it. She didn't blame the young lady for wanting to stay. Elita had lost count how many nights she slept in a chair at her mother's bedside, both in and out of the hospital, while her mother battled the cancer.

Metallic footsteps drew her attention back up, the medic coming into view. "How are you feeling?"

She let him run the scan over her and took mental inventory of all the aches and pains. "Everything hurts, on both forms, kinda nauseated."

"That would be your smaller body's request for food," he said quietly, being mindful of the sleeping base around them. "Agent Fowler had left shortly after everyone had returned home and brought back food. I believe Jack and Rafael had placed what was left over in the cooling unit."

"Is everyone alright?"

He nodded, letting his arms rest at his sides, "Bulkhead was the worst off, but thanks to your quick thinking we believe he'll make it."

"Good," she said letting her eyes close. She felt herself disconnect and reopened her eyes to the torso pieces opening before her. Ratchet was even kind enough to extend a finger for her to hold on to and pull her out, letting her find her feet before pulling his hand away. "I'm going to go get a bite to eat and I promise I'll be back to resting in no time."

"Alright," he agreed, "just don't make me come and find you."

With a smirk she headed down the hall to find the kitchen area. Opening the large, double door fridge she found that there were quite a few left-overs left for her. Being ex-military, she knew when somebody prepared to feed an army when she saw one. But she was so hungry that she figured she'd probably eat at least two sizeable portions.

Grabbing one of the large, aluminum serving pans that most places gave for huge take-out orders, she moved it over to the island table and set it down before she went in search of a fork and plate. She had to smirk as she found both items sitting on the island, right next to the folder of the pictures that Fowler had brought with him for her to go through. Dishing up a large plateful of food from the mostly full container, Elita sat down and began to eat as she carefully looked over the photos.

Growing impatient for her to return, Ratchet went looking for her when she had not come back after an hour and a half earth time. Heading straight for the kitchen, the medic had to almost place his head on the floor to look in the small doorway. He found her with three of the large serving containers that Agent Fowler had brought back with him, all stacked up beside her while the photographs filled the rest of the table in whatever organization only she knew. Elita was holding one of the photos in her hand, focusing intently on it.

When he called to her, she only looked up and gave him a weak smile. "Sorry, I guess I got caught up in all of this." She gathered the photographs and placed them how she wished in the folder, one stack turned facing the back of the folder, the other stack facing up with the picture she was focused on paper clipped to the inside front of the folder. The medic then watched her gather up the garbage and put it in its place before she left the room, folder in hand. He offered her his hand, which she accepted, and he gently lifted her up onto his shoulder and walked her back into the main room.

Stopping at his usual console, Ratchet began working again while he let Elita sit on his right shoulder. It was something he had seen Bulkhead do with Miko several times and it was rather nice, though he'd be the last to admit that to anyone. Glancing over every once in a while he would catch her looking at that top photograph. There was something about the man in the picture that kept her attention.

"Is he one of the possible M.E.C.H. agents that Agent Fowler was hoping to identify?" he asked quietly, but it still sounded loud to him as he broke the silence around them.

"Not possible," her voice sounded a bit weak, almost wounded, "he is one."

"Are you absolutely positive?"

She did nod, but also vocalized her answer. "He was my handler, and apparently for years."

"How is that possible?" When she stood up, he lifted his left hand to let her step onto and set her down on the walkway that ran around his workstation. "If M.E.C.H. had you for six months working on Project: Adaptation…"

The look Elita gave him made his energon run cold. It was that wounded look in her eyes, the one that matched her voice, making her look vulnerable. Ratchet really hated it when Miko would get that look and the feeling was a hundred times worse with Elita looking at him that way. It left the medic feeling helpless and not knowing what to do to fix the problem.

"He was my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend the night I was kidnapped."


	9. Chapter 9

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

_The following day…_

"He was what?" Agent Fowler was shocked as she handed him the folder. He had returned as early as he could the following morning to bring a few crates of the supplies Elita-One had asked for. It took time, and approval from General Brice, but he was able to secure everything she asked for.

The red-haired Cybertronian rolled her eyes at his shock, "You heard me. And I believe that he was only doing it because Silas had ordered him to keep an eye on me. I broke up with him a couple months before because I got tired of being uncomfortable around him, like something wasn't right." _And he kept asking for things that weren't offered,_ she reminded herself.

Miko was digging around in the crates off to their side. "So your ex kidnaps you for the guy he's working for and helps keep you locked up? What a sick-o!"

Elita gave a snort of laughter as the teen hit the nail on the head and turned her attention back to Fowler. "The ones on top are his friends that I saw with him when… well, when I was with him, both on and off base.

Closing the folder up, the Federal Agent smiled at her. "Thank you for your help on this, Elita. I'll get to work on tying them all together pronto!" And with that they watched him depart their base through the elevator.

Well, all accept Miko who was half hanging out of the crate she was currently digging through. "Hey! Lookie here, 'Lita!" she yelled as she pulled out a top of the line laptop, "Looks like you've got the hook up!"

Joining Miko for the moment, she had to admit that she was rather confused. She didn't ask for the laptop, but apparently Agent Fowler thought she needed it like Rafael needed his. And then she thought of something with a smile. "Hey, Miko. Why don't you check it out for me?"

"Really? Cool!" and off went Miko to the couch that was still waiting beside the repair chamber where Bulkhead rested and repaired. This also gave Elita time to go through the stuff by herself.

Optimus was back at his usual station, Ratchet working on the repairs to Elita's larger form, while Arcee and Bumblebee were out driving around with the boys. With a rolling cart's help the humanistic Cybertronian began to trudge the containers to her room, although she had caught Optimus and Ratchet moving the rest of the crates down to the floor level when she walked back through.

Making sure to thank them she got the fourth and final crate into her room and began to dig through it all herself. Agent Fowler managed to get everything she requested, down to the seeds she asked for. Setting everything she needed for her hydroponic garden to the little corner of her room she decided was best for it, Elita began to build the system. It would take time, but the idea of fresh fruits and vegetables was extremely appealing.

During one of her small breaks she went back to digging in the crates, finding a simple coffee pot and a couple large containers of the granulated black gold she use to live off of back in high school and college. Apparently Agent Fowler had his reason to keep the stuff at the base now since he had a fellow coffee drinker to share it with. Digging further into that particular crate she found cans of assorted goodies. Rushing as quickly as her sore legs could carry her, Elita headed back to the kitchen with the coffee pot in one arm and a container of coffee in the other. Hopefully there would be mugs.

She was walking back into the main room, holding her coffee mug with both hands as she savored the smell. The first pot went quickly, and this was the last cup of the second pot. Another search of the crate yielded sugar and powdered creamer. And now she was just going to check on Bulkhead's progress.

Optimus and Ratchet were standing at the repair chamber door with Miko by the couch at their feet as they all were waiting for the door to slide open to the side. A quick glance at her body on Ratchet's table revealed that it was sitting upright and holding the mug she had made earlier, in both of its hands. Giving a shake of her head, she had to smirk. It was either funny or creepy, and she'd rather see the humor side of it all.

By the time she had reached the others, Ratchet was already inside the chamber and helping Bulkhead wake-up. Optimus was standing by in case the Wrecker needed help. When Bulkhead had come to enough to realize where he was, the first person he called for was…

"Miko!" he said with a smile down at his human, the teenager rushing over to hug his foot as she cried, the overwhelming feeling of relief driving her to fresh tears.

"I was so worried, Bulk!" she admitted, letting him pick her up and place her on his shoulder where she proceeded to hug his cheek. "Don't do that again! Ever!"

Bulkhead chuckled a bit, closing his eyes with a smile at the contact. "I can't make that promise, but I will be more careful next time."

"So! Spill! Tell me everything!" she requested excitedly as she sat back on his shoulder. The huge Autobot slowly walked his way out of the repair chamber with his Commander and their medic, using the excuse of sharing his story with Miko to give his 'official' report.

Elita had hopped up onto the medical table next to her larger form, both lifting the mug to their lips at the same time, as she too listened. When Optimus explained to Bulkhead what Ratchet told him, the Wrecker smiled down at Elita, "Thanks for the save, E."

The newest Autobot just waved it off with a smile, "We're a team and we do what we can when we can with what we have. That's what family's for."

_That night._

After she managed to get the garden set up and going, Elita-One went to relieve Ratchet of the night monitoring duty since he had done it for two nights in a row. Both of her bodies were still a bit stiff, but completely repaired. And besides, she had the best of both worlds.

Part of her mind was keeping busy with 'practicing' with her larger form, letting it run the controls and readouts, while her smaller form was playing with her new laptop. She was use to multi-tasking, but this was such a better way to do it.

Deciding to check-in on things from her old life, she went to her little town's newspaper website. There were the usual articles about the town events such as parades and the school baked goods sale the teachers did every year. Just for the giggles of it, she checked the obituary section. It was rather odd reading her own obituary, looking at someone else's words as they tried to describe her life. About to close it down, she noticed a link at the bottom of it that made her heart sink into her stomach. Following it she bit her bottom lip as she read over the words.

Taking a deep breath, she closed the laptop lid and walked over to her larger form. The torso section opened up and she leapt into hit, letting her smaller form sync with the larger one. The rest of the night was a blur of her just going through the motions. The Decepticons had been quiet since the mass relic hunts had happened, but one could never guess when Megatron would strike.

It was near dawn the next morning before she had really settled on an idea. Checking the time confirmed that Ratchet would be there in five minutes, she walked over to the ground bridge controls, input the coordinates she wished, and opened it up and drove through.

It was winking shut as the medic made his way into the main room, looking around for his friend. On a corner of the main screen Ratchet saw what looked like one of those, oh what did the kids call it?, a website? A webpage? Slightly annoyed that she had been goofing off while on sensor duty; he scanned it over and froze as his eyes locked onto one particular part.

Rushing over to the ground bridge, he opened it up, transformed himself, and rushed through before it winked shut on him. He came out in a rather quiet field that was dotted with oddly shaped standing stone structures with a few large trees here and there. With a quick check of his sensors to 'feel' if anyone else was around, aside from the two Cybertronians, he transformed and scanned the area with his eyes.

Dawn was just barely creeping over the horizon, giving a gloom to the quiet field. And then he saw her, her larger form in its vehicular mode on the dirt road that ran through the field, and she standing before one of the larger of the odd stones. Not wanting to disturb the silence more than the birds were already doing so, he made his way on foot up the dirt road and carefully stepped over the stones to stand beside her.

Elita heard the ground bridge open up, recognized the sound of the medic's engine and then his footsteps as he made his way closer. She didn't look up from the grave markers until he carefully placed a finger on her shoulder after he knelt down next to her.

She looked up at him, placing her left hand on his digit, since it rested on her right shoulder, and they both focused down at the stone. On one side, it had her father's name, when he was born, when he passed, and kind words about how he was a loving father and husband. The vase that was originally on the stone had been replaced by the urn her old body was in, on it was the information about her. And newly added to the stone was her mother's name, when she was born, when she had passed only a week earlier, and the kind words.

Just as the sun began to finally crest over the horizon, Elita broke the silence first. "She passed in her sleep," and then she looked up at her dear friend, "Thank you."

The medic nodded gently, "That's what family's for."

FIN.

[Author's Note]

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS PRIME NOR ANY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW.


End file.
